Is stainless steel bad for you?!
Is stainless steel bad for you?
A salesman came into work trying to sell some pots and pans, that were quite expensive to say the least. With such a tight budget there was no way we could ever afford them, but he told us that cooking with stainless steel is the most dangerous thing you could cook with. Well, thats mainly what we use.
Is this true, was he really fishing to make a sell? I have never heard anything like that before.
Answers:
In fact, stainless is used for parts that are implanted in your body--such as the screws to hold broken bones in place, or the studs for newly pierced ears.
The only time stainless is hazardous is when it is heated to the point of vaporization, as in arc welding. In that case it is the chromium from the alloy that can enter the hexavalent form which is a possible carcinogen.
At the temperatures that stainless cookware can reach in household use it is effectively inert and totally non-hazardous
Source(s):
MSDS sheet for SS
stainless steel is only bad for you if you actually eat it, that sales person had no idea what they were talking about... and this is coming from a proffesional chef. Stainless steel is all i use, i'm out here to cook for them and make them happy not to cook and then kill them.
I don't think that's true.
No way. It's an excellent conductor of heat and easy to clean. I've been using stainless for years.
He was just trying to scare you into a sale. Both stainless steel and aluminum are popular metals for cookware, and stainless is used for your silverware, just check the back of your spoon! I work with these two metals daily and about the most harm they do to me is dry the skin on my hands, but rest easy, the grade of metal used for cookware and cutlery is different and wont harm you much less dry your skin out.
The salesman has his head up his ***. Aluminum has long been accused of contributing to Alzheimer's. I just don't like the idea of Teflon or other chemical company produced synthetics in my cookware. Cast iron is OK as long as you don't put any high acid ingredient in it (tomatoes, vinegar, etc), but it's high maintenance and prone to rusting. Steel gets hot spots and is also prone to rusting. Stainless steel is excellent, but it also gets hot spots. Go to Macy's and look at their Tools of the Trade line of cookware. It's stainless steel, and has a heavy layer of aluminum on the bottom (not to worry! It's on the bottom so food doesn't contact it.) and spreads heat evenly. And TotT is about 1/3 the cost of high end cookware.
No.
The salesman has either been misinformed by his superiors or is just trying to scare you so you will purchase his products. I've never heard such a thing before. Stainless steel is safe and an excellent conductor of heat but I will suggest, if you havent already, to invest in some stainless steel cookware with the clad bottoms (one with an aluminum core) to them so everything heats up more evenly and the likeliness of scorching becomes a rarity.
Actually I heard that cooking in aluminum was more dangerous than stainless steel. Alzheimer is on the rise because of the amounts of aluminum we use to keep or cook our foods. A doctor told me to never drink anything out of an aluminum can, or to use cookware made of aluminum. The MSN page featured an article that talked about the hazards of cooking with teflon and nonstick coverings, aluminum and oil, etc. You can look ut up. I prefer to invest in stainless steel than in cheap aluminum cookware.
You made the right desion! Stainless steel is inert, meaning it doesn't react with foods like copper if it's not lined (which is probably what he was thinking of, but would be very expensive, hmmm maybe he was selling copper cookware and got screwed up lol. sorry) Anyway, surgical tools are all stainless, your knives, and and and... Stainless is great in that it, like stated earlier, is inert, doesn't rust, and is durable. It is, however, a poor conductor of heat, so many companies, use a sandwiched or encapsulated bottom, of copper or aluminum because they are number 2 and 3 respectively (silver being #1 for heat conduction, but also the most expensive.) This accounts for less hotspots on the cooking surface. I'm sorry you had to deal with this salesperson, I don't know if it's the companies that give you a 20 minute update and say "go get them!" or if the salespeople had good training but can't make a circle if given a piece of paper a pencil and a drinking glass... Hope I could help out.